Posts Tagged ‘Shibu-gyaru’

Shop assistant Ainyan updates her cell phone blog every day with exhaustive details about her diet, hair style, makeup and clothes. To the uninitiated, Ainyan’s blog, illustrated with blurry shots of her hugging friends in purikura photo booth or looking up cutely into the camera, looks amateurish, almost as if it were made for a limited audience of friends only. But Ainyan is somewhat of a celebrity in the world of keitai (cell-phone) blogging. Last week her blog was the No. 1 cell-phone blog on Crooz, a mobile blog portal aimed at young women, and next month her makeup secrets will be disclosed in a cosmetics magazine.

Ainyan' cell phone blog

According to J-Cast, Ainyan’s popularity is an indication that the trend of kyarizuma teiin (charismatic shop assistant) is back. The trend first surfaced over a decade ago when attractive shop assistants in exclusive stores began to gain celebrity status. These new celebrities were often featured in fashion magazines, dishing out beauty and fashion advice. The trend resulted in customers visiting stores to get a glimpse of these retail idols and often sales of whatever outfit their icon was wearing at the time. It was great business for the stores and some clerks made names for themselves. According to Tokyo Kawaii, the success of charisma teiin Yoko Morimoto lead to a book and the launch of her own fashion brand.

This time, however, the trend is driven by cell-phone blogs, which are commute-friendly. The reason why girls are so interested in Ainyan’s blog, rather than those of her contemporaries, is that she works at the Wakatsuki Chinatsu concession in the teen paradise of Shibuya 109, which puts her at the pinnacle of gyaru style. She’s not the only one enjoying celebrity status, another 109 shop assistant called Morimayu, who again works in 109 (for TutuHA), is also highly regarded as a teen style icon and has appeared in fashion magazines such as Popteen.

The charm of the blogs for young girls is that they can relate on a personal level to both Morimayu and Ainyan. Morimayu has a rant about periods in one post while Ainyan discusses her body image issues with disarming frankness: “I think I’ve lost weight around my stomach and a little around my calves but my butt is still a problem!!!”

Both girls are working their newly found fame for all it’s worth, and it’s pretty obvious from reading the blogs that there’s some none-too-subtle product placement going on. Considering the fact that these girls work long hours for not a lot of pay, it’s hard to begrudge them for milking their new celebrity status to the fullest.